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Tokyo Deaflympics: Closing ceremony

Actors perform a Kyogen Japanese traditional comic play during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Deaflympics on Nov. 26, 2025, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in the Japanese capital.

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Princess Kako at Noh theater

Japanese Princess Kako (R) watches a Kyogen traditional Japanese farce performed in sign language at the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo on Jan. 8, 2024. (Pool photo)

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Princess Kako at Noh theater

Japanese Princess Kako arrives at the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo on Jan. 8, 2024, to watch a Kyogen traditional Japanese farce performed in sign language. (Pool photo)

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Kyoto-style dance artist and Kyogen actor

Yasuko Inoue (R) and Chuzaburo Shigeyama pose for photos in Kyoto on June 14, 2021, ahead of their joint stage performance in July featuring "Kyomai" traditional Kyoto-style dance and Kyogen comic theater.

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Kyoto-style dance artist and Kyogen actor

Yasuko Inoue (R) and Chuzaburo Shigeyama pose for photos in Kyoto on April 4, 2019, ahead of their joint stage performance in May featuring "Kyomai" traditional Kyoto-style dance and Kyogen comic theater.

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Modern ukiyo-e artist refreshes old masters' works

KYOTO, Japan - Photo taken March 14, 2014 in Kyoto shows one of ukiyo-e artist Inuki Tachihara's reproductions of the seven-part series "Oatari Kyogen" (Smash Hit Farces) by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Titled "Kan Shojo" -- the nickname of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), the work uses a bright shade of red to represent anger. (Photo by Tatsuya Hagiwara)

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Professor merges East, West in new theatrical style

NAGOYA, Japan - Photo taken in Nagoya on Feb. 2, 2014, shows Masaru Sekine, a professor at Waseda University's Faculty of International Research and Education who is pursuing an experimental project that fuses European opera with Kyogen Japanese comic theater.

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Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku dies

TOKYO, Japan - A June 2009 file photo taken during a performance in Kyoto shows Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku (L), who was designated as a Japanese living national treasure. He died at age 93 on May 23, 2013, of lung cancer at his home in Kyoto. At center is his son Shigeyama Sengoro and at right are Sensaku's twin great-grandsons Toramasa (far R) and Tatsumasa.

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Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku dies

TOKYO, Japan - A 2007 file photo shows Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku, designated as a Japanese living national treasure, who died on May 23, 2013, of lung cancer at his home in Kyoto. He was 93.

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Opening ceremony of Tokyo Skytree Town

TOKYO, Japan - Nomura Mansai gives a Japanese ''kyogen'' comic performance during an opening ceremony for Tokyo Skytree Town, the newly completed commercial complex surrounding the 634-meter-high Tokyo Skytree, at the 350-meter observation deck of the tower in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on May 14, 2012, ahead of the tower's grand opening on May 22. (Pool photo)

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Opening ceremony of Tokyo Skytree Town

TOKYO, Japan - Nomura Mansai gives a Japanese ''kyogen'' comic performance during an opening ceremony for Tokyo Skytree Town, the newly completed commercial complex surrounding the 634-meter-high Tokyo Skytree, at the 350-meter observation deck of the tower in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on May 14, 2012, ahead of the tower's grand opening on May 22. (Pool photo)

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'Mibu Kyogen' drama in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - Performers shove dishes from the stage during ''Mibu Kyogen,'' a traditional comedic drama designated in Japan as a significant intangible folk cultural asset, at the Buddhist temple Mibudera in Kyoto on April 21, 2011. The popular dish-smashing routine is called ''Horaku Wari.'' The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through April 29.

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'Mibu Kyogen' drama in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - Performers shove dishes from the stage during ''Mibu Kyogen,'' a traditional comedic drama designated in Japan as a significant intangible folk cultural asset, at the Buddhist temple Mibudera in Kyoto on April 21, 2011. The popular dish-smashing routine is called ''Horaku Wari.'' The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through April 29.

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Shigeyama Sensaku

Shigeyama Sensaku, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on Nov. 3, 2007)

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Kyogen actor Shigeyama, 4 others receive top culture awards

TOKYO, Japan - Five recipients of the Order of Culture pose for a photo with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (3rd from L) at the Imperial Palace on Nov. 3. (From L to R) are sculptor Shinya Nakamura, Akira Mikazuki, professor emeritus in judicial studies at the University of Tokyo, Fukuda, Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku, Koji Nakanishi, professor emeritus in organic chemistry at Columbia University, and Tokindo Okada, professor emeritus in development biology at Kyoto University.

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Diplomats enjoy Kyogen performance at U.N.

NEW YORK, United States - Nomura Mansai gives a comical Japanese Kyogen performance in the U.N. Dag Hammarskjold Library at the U.N. headquarters in New York on June 6 for foreign diplomats from around the world. Other members of the Mansaku-no-Kai Kyogen Company, headed by Nomura Mansaku, a Living National Treasure, also joined the performance.

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Izumi Motoya

Izumi Motoya, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on March 17, 2005)

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Nomura Manzo

Nomura Manzo, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on Nov. 1, 2004)

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Japanese antiwar 'kyogen' comedy to be staged in Paris

KYOTO, Japan - Scriptwriter Takeshi Umehara speaks at a press conference in Kyoto on March 10. He said that a Japanese traditional ''kyogen'' comic theater presentation will be staged from April 27 to 29 in Paris to deliver an antiwar message. Kyogen is a comic form of Noh drama and one of the traditional theaters in Japan that flourished from the mid-14th century.

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Nomura Mannojo

Nomura Mannojo, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on Dec. 6, 2003)

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Nomura Mannojo

Nomura Mannojo, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on June 26, 2003)

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Izumio Motoya

Izumio Motoya, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on Nov. 18, 2002)

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Yan Qinggu

TOKYO, Japan - Yan Qinggu, 31, a classical Chinese opera actor, who is studying Kyogen, a type of traditional Japanese comic theater.

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Kanze Tetsunojo

Kanze Tetsunojo, Noh farce (Kyogen) actor (photo taken on Dec. 17, 2001)

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Kyogen actor Izumi to wed actress Hano in early Jan.

TOKYO, Japan - Popular Kyogen actor Motoya Izumi (L) will marry actress Aki Hano (R) on Jan. 5 at a Tokyo temple, Izumi's friends said on Dec. 20. Izumi is the 20th hereditary head of his family's Izumi school of Kyogen, a comedic form of Japanese classical drama that developed in the 14th century.

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Kyogen actor Izumi to wed actress Hano in early Jan.

TOKYO, Japan - Popular Kyogen actor Motoya Izumi (L) will marry actress Aki Hano (R) on Jan. 5 at a Tokyo temple, Izumi's friends said on Dec. 20. Izumi is the 20th hereditary head of his family's Izumi school of Kyogen, a comedic form of Japanese classical drama that developed in the 14th century.

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Diplomats enjoy Kyogen performance at U.N.

NEW YORK, United States - Nomura Mansai gives a comical Japanese Kyogen performance in the U.N. Dag Hammarskjold Library at the U.N. headquarters in New York on June 6 for foreign diplomats from around the world. Other members of the Mansaku-no-Kai Kyogen Company, headed by Nomura Mansaku, a Living National Treasure, also joined the performance. (Kyodo)

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Visitors experience Japanese culture at Milan world expo

Izumi Motoya (L), a kyogen actor in traditional comedy theater, gives a performance on the theme of sugar at the Japan Pavilion of Expo Milano 2015 on June 22, 2015. Visitors have experienced Japanese culture at the food-themed world exposition. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai performs new drama with children

Popular actor Nomura Mansai (L) performs in a new drama of the traditional Kyogen comic play, based on regional mythology, at an open-air stage in the western Japan city of Kasai, Hyogo Prefecture, together with local children on May 4, 2015. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai performs new drama with children

Popular actor Nomura Mansai (3rd from R) performs in a new drama of the traditional Kyogen comic play, based on regional mythology, at an open-air stage in the western Japan city of Kasai, Hyogo Prefecture, together with local children on May 4, 2015. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Princesses Kiko, Kako watch 'kyogen' comic drama in sign language

Princess Kiko (L) and her daughter Princess Kako watch a "kyogen" traditional Japanese comic drama in sign language at the National Noh Theater in Tokyo on Feb. 1, 2015. (Pool photo by Kyodo News) (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Abe hosts banquet for foreign guests after imperial ceremony

Top-level actors from three different traditional Japanese arts -- Kyogen, Kabuki and Bunraku -- perform together during a banquet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie hosted in Tokyo on Oct. 23, 2019, to entertain foreign dignitaries who attended the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito the previous day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Abe hosts banquet for foreign guests after imperial ceremony

Top-level actors from three different traditional Japanese arts -- Kyogen, Kabuki and Bunraku -- perform together during a banquet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie hosted in Tokyo on Oct. 23, 2019, to entertain foreign dignitaries who attended the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito the previous day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Plate-smashing 'kyogen' drama staged at Kyoto temple

Masked "drum sellers" drop some 1,000 fragile stacked clay plates off the stage of Mibu-dera temple in Kyoto, western Japan, during a traditional "kyogen" comic drama called "Horaku-wari" (smashing plates) on April 29, 2015. When the plates are broken, the wish of the person donating them is said to come true. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Kyogen actor Shigeyama, 4 others receive top culture awards

TOKYO, Japan - Five recipients of the Order of Culture pose for a photo with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (3rd from L) at the Imperial Palace on Nov. 3. (From L to R) are sculptor Shinya Nakamura, Akira Mikazuki, professor emeritus in judicial studies at the University of Tokyo, Fukuda, Kyogen actor Shigeyama Sensaku, Koji Nakanishi, professor emeritus in organic chemistry at Columbia University, and Tokindo Okada, professor emeritus in development biology at Kyoto University. (Kyodo)

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Performing girls

The women seem to be imitating a zangiri-kyogen or comic farce. The young woman in a red kimono is taking a pose with a kitchen knife in her hand. Derived from the Kyogen plays of the Edo Period that depicted everyday troubles of the people, this style was soon to be replaced by the shinpa-geki or new school of drama.==Date:unknown, Place:unknown, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number79‐43‐0]

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A kiku ningyo (a chrysanthemum doll)

Kiku (chrysanthemum) dolls were made with the theme of popular Kyogen, or involved plays or stories, and were made in the shape of popular actors. The body made of hay with a bamboo stand in the center wears a garment made out of chrysanthemum flowers and leaves.==Date:unknown, Place:unknown, Photo:Suzuki Shin-ichi, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number41‐47‐0]

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'Mibu Kyogen' drama in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - Performers shove dishes from the stage during ''Mibu Kyogen,'' a traditional comedic drama designated in Japan as a significant intangible folk cultural asset, at the Buddhist temple Mibudera in Kyoto on April 21, 2011. The popular dish-smashing routine is called ''Horaku Wari.'' The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through April 29. (Kyodo)

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'Mibu Kyogen' drama in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan - Performers shove dishes from the stage during ''Mibu Kyogen,'' a traditional comedic drama designated in Japan as a significant intangible folk cultural asset, at the Buddhist temple Mibudera in Kyoto on April 21, 2011. The popular dish-smashing routine is called ''Horaku Wari.'' The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through April 29. (Kyodo)

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"Mibu Kyogen" drama in Kyoto

Performers shove dishes from the stage for a popular dish-smashing routine during a "Mibu Kyogen" traditional drama at Mibu temple in Kyoto on April 29, 2021. The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through May 5.

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"Mibu Kyogen" drama in Kyoto

Performers shove dishes from the stage for a popular dish-smashing routine during a "Mibu Kyogen" traditional drama at Mibu temple in Kyoto on April 29, 2021. The program, which started the same day, is scheduled to run through May 5.

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Imperial Palace ceremony for Order of Culture recipients

Kyogen actor Nomura Man (R), 89, receives the Order of Culture, Japan's top cultural award, from Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 3, 2019. (Pool photo) (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Imperial Palace ceremony for Order of Culture recipients

Six recipients of this year's Order of Culture, Japan's top cultural award, pose for a photo at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 3, 2019, after attending the award ceremony. The six (from L) are Akira Yoshino, 71, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, mathematical engineering scholar Shunichi Amari, 83, photographer Takeyoshi Tanuma, 90, Kyogen actor Nomura Man, 89, political scientist Takeshi Sasaki, 77, and immunologist Shimon Sakaguchi, 68. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Imperial Palace ceremony for Order of Culture recipients

Six recipients of this year's Order of Culture, Japan's top cultural award, pose for a photo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 3, 2019, after attending the award ceremony. The six (from L) are Akira Yoshino, 71, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, mathematical engineering scholar Shunichi Amari, 83, photographer Takeyoshi Tanuma, 90, Kyogen actor Nomura Man, 89, political scientist Takeshi Sasaki, 77, and immunologist Shimon Sakaguchi, 68. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Imperial Palace ceremony for Order of Culture recipients

Kyogen actor Nomura Man, 89, enters the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 3, 2019, to attend a ceremony to receive the Order of Culture, Japan's top cultural award, together with five other recipients. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Tokyo stock market's last trading day of 2019

Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai (C) rings the bell during a Tokyo Stock Exchange ceremony marking the end of the 2019 trading on Dec. 30, 2019. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Tokyo stock market's last trading day of 2019

Japan Exchange Group Inc. CEO Akira Kiyota (2nd from L) and Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai (far R) attend a Tokyo Stock Exchange ceremony marking the end of the 2019 trading on Dec. 30, 2019. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Tokyo stock market's last trading day of 2019

Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai attends a Tokyo Stock Exchange ceremony marking the end of the 2019 trading on Dec. 30, 2019. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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One year to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (C) meets in Tokyo on July 24, 2019, with Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai (R), who will orchestrate the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Seated next to Bach is Yoshiro Mori, former Japanese prime minister and head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee. The day marked the start of the one-year countdown to the opening of the Olympics. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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G-20 summit in Osaka

Kyogen actor Nomura Mansai performs before world leaders attending a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, western Japan, on June 28, 2019. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo